


[Meta] DIY Britpick for 'Carry On' writers

by aralias



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: British English, British Slang, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25784257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralias/pseuds/aralias
Summary: A list of some of the most common British/American words and concepts that come up in 'Carry On' fic. Particular focus on school, university, food, clothes, etc.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 34





	[Meta] DIY Britpick for 'Carry On' writers

**Author's Note:**

> Sadly, this is not a fic. Sorry if you have me on subscribe. 
> 
> I'm a coward who has only ever written for British characters (and the only American Master) - thank you Rainbow Rowell for choosing to write about British schoolboys even though you now regret it! Thank you fandom for writing about them too :D Hope this is helpful, rather than annoying. 
> 
> Some major disclaimers:  
> \- This is mostly based on my own experiences, so primarily based on knowing one school and one university, and some people who went to other schools and other universities.  
> \- I'm about 10 years older than Simon, a contemporary of Harry Potter. So my slang and school knowledge is out of date.  
> \- I live in the south of England - very similar to Baz. I went to university near London. I don't know many Northerners.  
> -This is not a complete list. I've been adding to it for a few months based on stuff I've read and can remember. Feel free to make corrections  
> -I've left out anything that I never see people confused about - like football! - and things that I don't see that often in 'Carry On' fic to keep it short enough to take in.

## School (Watford age)

Secondary School (could be – a Comp/Comprehensive, Grammar school, public/private school both of which mean the same thing). Generally not high school - although there _are_ some high schools in the UK. 

Year 7 (11-12) to Year 11 (15-16), then Sixth Form/Sixth Form college (‘sixth form’ is a weird legacy from when school years were numbered sensibly). More info: [ https://www.buzzfeed.com/jameskicksa/i-have-broken-down-the-differences-between-us-and-uk-school ](https://www.buzzfeed.com/jameskicksa/i-have-broken-down-the-differences-between-us-and-uk-school)

Term, not semester (and for university) 

Period (lesson)

No Dean of Students – Deputy Head would be better, or Head of House

Pre-uni, you probably don’t have a car for more than a year

My random comprehensive school had school houses, so it’s a thing - also prefects, Head Boy/Girl

Call your teacher Miss or Sir, or their full name i.e. Miss Possibelf, but not really ‘the Miss’ - more likely ‘my teacher’

Half term, Easter holidays (i.e. not vacation)

Taking the register, not role call

Staff, not faculty

None of these - hall monitors, homeroom, graduation ceremonies (Carry On has one but given that there are no magician universities, this seems reasonable - we did have award ceremonies) or valedictorians, not really ‘top of the class’ either - although you could be in the 'top set' i.e. top set maths

Maths, not math

The big exams: GCSE (like OWLS) at the end of year 11 (fifth year for Simon), then A Level at the end of Upper Sixth (seventh year). There's also AS Level the year before. 

Term dates: 

  * I googled and came up with [these dates from Surrey](https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/term-dates), which is close enough. They look right about right
  * Eton (private school, possibly akin to Watford) has [slightly different term dates](https://www.etoncollege.com/DatesOfHalves.aspx), also uses the term Michaelmas, which is not used in other schools, but is used at Oxbridge 



## Before Watford age

Before secondary: primary school or junior school (or prep school if you’re posh and rich). Even younger - infant school. 

Nursery - not kindergarten

Buggy or pram, not stroller

## University

Uni/University – not college or school or grad school i.e. you wouldn't say 'Oxford is a good school'

Not really majors or minors – you go to uni to study a specific course, which could be a combined degree i.e. English and French but you generally choose before you get there (exceptions would be - going to study two things, but choosing which to focus on, leading to a degree like English _with_ French). No gen ed - you just do your main subject

No freshman, junior, sophomore - you just say first year, etc 

  * except ‘Freshers week’ and Freshers (almost certainly first few weeks of first year, sometimes for whole first year, probably an American loan - definitely still not freshmen)



Most but not all degrees are 3 years. Then you can choose to do a Masters (1 year), and then choose separately to do a PhD (3 years). These could all be at different unis.

No sororities - although there are societies (clubs)

Essays, not papers (probably?)

Dissertation, not thesis (probably)

TA-ing not a big thing, although it does exist

Reading week (half term, but for uni)

Call your lecturer by their first name - they are probably not a professor, but could be. More likely a Doctor. 

‘Read’ used for study only at Oxbridge i.e. I read English at Oxford, I’m going to Cambridge to read History (Oxbridge is very different from other unis, lots more small tutorial, lots more essay writing)

Red brick universities - other older, established universities, like Kings, Durham, etc - respected. Not all red brick universities are part of [the Russell Group](https://www.theuniguide.co.uk/advice/choosing-a-course/what-is-the-russell-group) of universities, which are generally the best regarded after Oxbridge. 

Baz canonically attends LSE (London School of Economics & Political Science), which a Russell Group university, known for social sciences. 

Ex-polytechnic - newer universities that snobby intellectuals (including my parents) or rich people would look down on 

## Food/Drink

Shop, supermarket, corner shop/newsagents/off licence/‘offie’ - not store or grocery store, not really groceries

  * Supermarket poshness goes from approximately most posh to least posh: Marks and Spencer/s (M&S) and Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco/s and Morrisons, Asda and Aldi and Lidl and corner shops



Black/purple flavour is blackcurrant, not grape 

Sweets and chocolate, not really a collective name, not really candy

Fizzy drinks (?) not soda, or more likely to use the brandname i.e. Coke

Pint, or half i.e. I’ll have a half

Butter comes in blocks (?) or pats of 250g, not sticks - so no one would ever eat or use a ‘stick of butter’

Scones are round (clotted cream and jam is usual, butter is not usual)

Aubergine, not eggplant

Courgette, not zucchini

Milk comes in pints, two pints, four pints, six pints - full fat, semi skimmed, skimmed

People don’t say ‘cream’ for their coffee

Mostly tomato sauce instead of ketchup

'Go for a curry', rather than 'go for curry'

It's weird that Baz and Simon drink so much milk - Baz should have offered Simon tea (both times)

## Clothes/appearance

Waistcoat – not vest (vest is like a wifebeater)

Braces – not suspenders

Trousers, not pants (underwear is - pants, sometimes panties, briefs, boxers, knickers) 

Fringe, not bangs

Tartan, not plaid

Trainers, not sneakers

Nappy, not diaper

Dungarees, not overalls

Give height in feet and inches, weight in stone (but use metric system for almost all other measurement)

  * This may just be for people over 25ish. Younger UK people may have entirely moved to metric. 



## London

Very little driving - train in, then Tube or bus to get around (Tube if you’re a tourist) or walk - or Boris bike. Black cabs for rich people, Ubers

‘Going into Town’ - going into London

The City - Canary Wharf/where the bankers are

The Tube, the Underground

## Cars

90% of cars are manual, automatic very rare and weird. Rainbow’s right - no pick-up trucks

Boot, not trunk

Petrol not gas, petrol station not gas station

  * People might say ‘step on the gas’ but only if they’ve been watching a lot of American movies 



You can only start driving lessons when you’re 17, and you can’t drive until you’ve passed your driving test

Motorway, dual carriageway, not highway or freeway

## Random

Rubbish or bin, not trash

Car park, not parking lot

Pub, not bar (although there are also bars, but mostly people go to pubs)

Cash, fiver, tenner, (no twenty equivalent), five quid etc (quid is never plural)

Notes, not bills

Mobile or phone, not cell phone

Pissed - drunk, pissed off - angry 

CV, not resume

Bathroom, loo or loos, toilet (the room as well as the object - for loo/toilet), gents (i.e. I’m off to the gents), ladies - not restroom, probably not men’s room.

  * Bog, loo, lav - probably Simon etc only



Tap, not faucet

Flat, not apartment 

Pavement, not sidewalk

Autumn, not fall

Post, not mail - few to no people have mailboxes outside of their houses, they have postboxes in their doors

Torch, not flashlight

Garden, not back yard

Advert, not commercial

## Baz probably wouldn't say:

This section is definitely up for debate. But I feel Baz might be too posh/too much of a softy southerner to say these things, even though literally everyone else around him (with the exception of Malcolm, Daphne and the Mage) probably would. 

  * ‘Dancing’s **well** gay’ 
  * 'It freaks me **right** out'
  * Bloke (arguably, Fiona uses it but she think she’s punk)
  * Trakkies
  * Fit
  * Fags i.e. cigarettes although also gays
  * Twat (apparently)
  * Puke
  * Mate



## Other resources

  * [Britpickery](https://britpickery.livejournal.com/): This really old Livejournal comm has an amazing index of all the questions people have asked before
  * [hp-britglish](https://hp-britglish.livejournal.com/): Also a LJ comm, also old and mostly quiet, but has really good tags. 
  * Pretty good [glossary of British/American words](http://projectbritain.com/americanbritish.html#test)
  * [List of British insults](https://www.anglotopia.net/anglophilia/british-english-the-top-50-most-beautiful-british-insults/) \- generally v good/correct, with some I'm not sure about (cheese eating surrender monkeys isn't common, nor is uphill gardener, dog with two dicks. Not sure about scrubber, gannet, ligger.) 
  * One of the Carry On discords has an @britpicker role, which contacts anyone who has identified as British to help you answer questions. (The invite-links die within a few days, but I can give you a code if you don't have one.)




End file.
